Moving house with Combilift

Birmingham based Space4 housing solutions has taken delivery of its second fleet of Combilift 4-way forklifts to ensure the continued streamlined and safe handling of its increasingly large and bulky loads of raw materials and finished product. Part of the Persimmon Group and one of the UK's top house builders, Space4 manufactures closed panel MMC systems for both the public and private housing sectors in England and Wales at its 220,000ft2 facility in Castle Bromwich.

The initial fleet of 4 Combilift 4 tonne capacity models had been working at the site since 2001, augmented by a fifth in 2003. When it came to looking at a new fleet of trucks, Site Services Manager Bob Preston was in no doubt that the Combilifts were the ideal trucks for the job, as he explains: "As well as dealing with very bulky raw materials, our finished product such as 12m lengths of floor cassettes and 2.7m high side panels are very difficult to handle. Add the layout of the factory into the equation - narrow with stanchions at regular intervals - and you have the need for a very special piece of handling equipment. Our previous experience and satisfaction with the Combilifts proved them to be crucial for our operations."

The 4 new trucks (two 4t and two 6t), together with the 4t model from 2003, cope with the constant stream of deliveries of raw materials of timber and cement particle board, in what Bob admits to be an intensive operation in quite a harsh environment. The LPG powered Combilifts, all fitted with a 3-way catalytic converter, also manoeuvre the packs around the narrow confines of the manufacturing area. The 6 tonne models were specified to enable Space4 to change to a new method of loading the finished side panels horizontally rather than vertically for delivery to site. This accords with Persimmon's preferred procedure and it also enables better capacity per lorry to be achieved.

Due to the evolving nature of the materials used in Space4's operation, and the implementation of the new loading methods, the company drew on the experience and expertise of its handling specialist Abex Ltd for the technical specifications of the new fleet. Bob worked with Abex's Paul Raymond over a period of about 6 months on load centres, attachments and options to ensure 100% compatibility with Space4's other equipment. A spreader bar was recommended for the extremely long floor/ceiling cassettes, and narrower and longer forks have been fitted to the 6t trucks to enable them to handle Space4's own special in-house attachments for holding the side panels.

With an output of around 70 complete houses per week, the volume of materials handled across the site is substantial. The 5 Combilifts have enabled shifts to increase from 1 to 3 within the last year, and ensure efficient handling of incoming and outgoing materials. Bob Preston's verdict: "We couldn't operate with anything else."

All Combilifts are manufactured by Combilift Ltd in Monaghan Ireland. The current range now encompasses over a dozen models with capacities ranging from 2.5 - 14 tonnes, with LPG, diesel or electric power available. The trucks are designed to work both inside and out, on semi-rough terrain and in all weather conditions. A team of design engineers at the Monaghan factory in Ireland will also draw up warehouse layouts, free of charge, to illustrate the best possible use of available storage space using the Combilift system.

Combilift Ltd.
Tel UK: 07815 314 990
www.combilift.com